Catholic leader seeks inter-faith cooperation

SALT LAKE CITY — Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York, the new U.S. president of Roman Catholic Bishops, strongly believes in the need for diverse religious communities to join together to protecting marriage.

"Archbishop Dolan is a bold and eloquent defender of marriage as the exclusive, lifelong union of husband and wife," Robert P. George, professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University and an adviser to some bishops on political and moral issues, stated in an e-mail to the Deseret News this week.

"He strongly believes in the need for diverse religious communities to join together in protecting marriage and rebuilding and revitalizing the marriage culture where it has suffered erosion," George, who also is a member of the Deseret News Editorial Board, continued.

"I know that he greatly admires the witness of LDS people in their own marriages and family lives and the witness of the LDS Church and the LDS community in courageously defending the institution of marriage in the public square."

Archbishop Dolan will probably also continue the process of building a stronger relationship with the LDS Church.

"I predict that Archbishop Dolan will enthusiastically continue the work begun by Cardinal Francis George to build a vibrant friendship between the Catholic and LDS communities," George stated. "Under his leadership of the U.S. Catholic Conference, I predict that Mormons and Catholics will find themselves cooperating ever more frequently and closely on matters of shared conviction and concern, including marriage, the sanctity of human life, and religious liberty and the rights of conscience," George concluded.

On catholic.org, reader Billy Purcell made this comment on the election of Archbishop Dolan:

"3,700 a day die from abortion in U.S. This is a barbaric act in the greatest nation on earth, this must not stand or we face chastisement. I hope the archbishop can powerfully enforce church teachings, and reach out to the Evangelical, Protestant, Mormon community, and also Congress with one voice. America is ready," he wrote.

Catholic Bishops of the United States, meeting in Baltimore, Md., Tuesday for their annual meeting, broke tradition and didn't elect the conference vice president to the presidency. That meant that the expected president — current vice president Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson — finished second in the voting, by a 128-111 tally.

Dolan replaces Cardinal Francis George, who did not run for re-election.